*
"You're fairly good, did you know?"
A smirk, a blown kiss, and then Lani responds, "Yeah, you're pretty good too."
The fact of the matter is that Beatrix is very good.
Lani enjoys trailing along with Amarant whenever he decides to visit Alexandria (for whatever reason - usually to tease the monkey, sometimes just to get away from bounties), and this is why. Alexandria's General Beatrix.
At first, it was hard to get the other woman to go along with this whole thing. She didn't like the unusual, and didn't like the questions it would raise from the soldiers under her. But all Lani did was remind her that her soldiers were all too busy patrolling, guarding, or flirting with Pluto Knights to notice what their good Lady was doing.
So Beatrix caved after only two visits and now they spend all day together, sometimes leaking into the evenings and once, they even ended up staying up all night. Steiner had questioned what they were doing but the two just blew it off.
Beatrix's body is curved and graceful and every movement she makes is proof that her body is a well groomed machine.
Lani's is rougher, and some of her movements aren't quite as onetwothree as Beatrix's - more like one-two, three - but she's just as good.
Hell, she might just be better.
Every step is carefully timed on Beatrix's part - she parries and slices and ducks in a very carefully coordinated dance. Meanwhile, Lani's on the other side simply switching from offensive to defensive at random, timing her blows kind of but more or less letting her axe decide for her.
She likes the dungeons of Alexandria Castle best for their workouts, because as they move down the hall, blocking and returning and ducking, the drunks that Captain Steiner and his goons have locked up all cheer and the thieves enjoy taking bets on who will come out on top this time. Some of them have learned by now that there are no odds in this game, and so they kindly back out.
"You know," Beatrix sighs, with only the slightest pant in her voice from their already hour long session, "There might be a better place to do this."
"There might, sure," Lani responds, ducking a slash and adding, "Don't you like the boys and girls watching?"
"Not particularly," the General blocks a downwards stroke from Lani's axe, "I find it both distracting and a little obscene."
"We ain't being obscene!" a thief calls, waving two of his four arms.
"No comments from the peanut gallery!" Lani snaps, managing to slam her heel against the bars, rattling them. "You might want to get these things checked out. No telling when they might fall."
"Lani," Beatrix says finally, "Has Amarant ever told you that you take the part of a male very well?"
"Oh, all the time. Who do you think he got his masculinity from?"
A duck, an upwards throw, and Lani nearly knocks Beatrix down. The General responds by twisting and then jerking upwards. Save The Queen nearly guts the bounty huntress, who is forced into a kind of spin and ends up putting too much force into her axe. With a yelp, she's pulled backwards and the two tumble to the ground.
Lani's jaw knocks against Beatrix's thin cheekbone and they both groan in annoyance, drawing back. Beatrix stares up at Lani in confusion.
"I thought you were better than that," she chides.
"Hey, I'm still on top!" the bounty huntress responds, crossing her arms over her chest and crouching over the fallen General.
"I can assure you that's only temporary."
There's a catcall and then a drunk calls for some obscene favors.
Lani looks at Beatrix and then sighs. "Maybe you're right. There's gotta be a better place than this."
"There is," Beatrix responds, and the two stand, grab their weapons, and leave the thieves and drunks to wonder just where this better place is.